


How Long

by angelboygabriel



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Eliott’s Parents, Elu get together earlier than in canon, Episodes s3e1-3, Good job boys, Lucas smiling a lot, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Missing Scenes, No cheating, Respecting Lucille & Chloe, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, Urban Artist Eliott, alternating pov, brief mutual pining, light Eliott backstory, lots of thoughts, scenes from the OG are adapted & incorporated, season 3 nostalgia, weed use, wow look at elu overcoming communication issues in their lives!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24086443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelboygabriel/pseuds/angelboygabriel
Summary: A soulmates AU where everyone wears a watch that counts down the time until they make eye contact with their soulmate.Lucas isn’t exactly sold on the idea of a soulmate. He’s more concerned with getting some weed back for Arthur and surviving second year, so it’s not like he’s got time for love anyways.And Eliott just wants to get his last year of bac over with, but some boy has to run into him his first day at a new school and turn that all upside down.
Relationships: Eliott Demaury & Lucille, Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 21
Kudos: 123





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Most dialogue is taken directly from the show, save specific parts where the scenes depart from canon obviously. I will be embedding links to some of the songs that Eliott and Lucas listen to in this fic so if you want to hear them too just click the song title in the story!
> 
> Inspired by a tumblr text post I can’t find anymore :(

“Why doesn’t the watch come off?” Lucas asked one time, frowning at the way its time kept slowly ticking down. 11 years, 8 months, 20 days, 1 hour, 34 minutes, 18 seconds.

17 seconds.

16 seconds.

15 seconds.

Mama sighed as she ruffled Lucas’s hair and pulled his hand away from where he tried to pull it off his wrist, to no avail. She still had one, and Papa did too. Yann’s parents had none, but Yann did. It seemed strange to Lucas.

“Well, mon petit chou, those watches tell us how long it is until we meet our soulmates.”

Lucas frowned at the tiny analog numbers. “How?” He asked, and she set her laundry basket on the table.

“I don’t exactly know. Everybody gets a watch when they’re born, and they activate to follow your life specifically, since it reads your DNA. Do you know what DNA is?” she asked, and he shook his head. Mama smiled fondly down at him as he walked one of his plushes down his legs toward the doll Aunt Agathe had given him from America.

“DNA is the stuff inside our bodies that makes your hair fluffy, or your eyes blue, or your tummy soft, or you attitude sassy,” she replies and tickles his stomach. He giggled delightedly and tried to fend off her fingers unsuccessfully. Mama picks the laundry basket back up from the table and nudges some of his toys aside.

“I hope that my soulmate likes animals. And that my soulmate is very pretty. And that my soulmate can make the best cakes in the world. And that my soulmate likes Moomin.” Lucas declared primly, and held his raccoon plush and doll to his chest as he looked up at Mama.

“I’m sure they will, darling. But don’t worry about it yet.”

And so Lucas doesn’t.

Not until after the years whittle into single digits and Mama gets sicker and Papa leaves, until he feels unmoored and questioning and hurt by everything, until the years shrink into months, and the months into days.

* * *

“Are you excited for your first day?” Maman asks excitedly, putting a plate of crepes in front of him as he sinks down in his seat.

“No,” Eliott replies bitterly, and Maman gives him a sympathetic look before she sits down across from him at the table.

Eliott didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to start at a new school and repeat this year of bac, and risk people finding about why he was there. He was sick of having his past keep driving his future. He took a bite of the crepes and stared down at his plate. At least Maman never judged him for being moody.

“Good morning, Angelique, good morning, Eliott,” his father says cheerfully as he sweeps into the kitchen. He pulls Eliott’s hood down so he can ruffle his hair, and Eliott can’t help but roll his eyes and smile.

“Good morning,” Eliott replies, and his maman pokes his leg with her foot under the table.

“Now, see what some good crepes and time with your parents can do for your mood?” she says with a sneaky smile, and Eliott laughs.

“Fine. I’ll survive today, I guess,” he jokes back, but Maman’s smile drops a little. Maybe it’s still too soon for that kind of joke.

He gets up from the table after Maman and Dad have both made sure he knows the directions to lycée Dorian, has all of his supplies in his backpack, and his finished his crepes. He kisses Maman’s forehead and salutes Dad on his way out the door, and they both smile.

He adjusts the tight wrap that conceals his watch and keeps it from falling off. He hasn’t looked at it in five years, but now that he’s thinking about it, five years ago, he had five years left. He wonders if he might come home one day and take the wrap off only to find the watch expired and discover he’s seen his soulmate without knowing it. Eliott sets that line of thinking aside and squints up and the slightly cloudy sky as he decides against taking the bus. He could use the excercise.

At least it’s a nice day out, Eliott thinks as he makes his way down the waking streets of Paris, passing happy groups of schoolgirls and shopowners opening their shop fronts. The videoclub he likes to stop by is still shuttered, and Eliott thinks about dropping by on his way home.

Eliott pulls his hood back up as he goes along, and stops across the street from the gates of the school, where students are streaming in and hanging around the schoolyard. A sudden wave of nervousness sweeps across him, and he slumps down on a bench.

_I stop by the principal’s office first thing to pick up my schedule, right?_ he texts Maman. It takes a minute for her to respond. 

_That’s right. You know what room it is?_

_Can you remind me?_

_ Of course. It’s the large red door with the windows outside, down the main hallway on the left. _

_ Thank you :) _

_Have a good day, our Van Gogh!_ she replies sweetly, and Eliott smiles down at his phone, before opening Instagram on a whim. The noisiness across the street dies down a bit as he scrolls, and there’s a clanging noise he doesn’t look up from. Lucille has posted a picture of her in an immaculate white dress with her friends, the Norwegian exchange student named Sonja and their friend Camille. He likes the picture without thinking.

As if waiting for her cue, Lucille texts.

_Doing ok? Ready for your first day?_ she questions, and Eliott sighs as he types out his answer. Her mothering has been bordering on too much lately, and all they seem to do is fight, but it is nice of her to still care.

_Doing fine. You look very pretty today_ , he responds.

_Thank you. I’m sure you look handsome too_ , is the answering text. Eliott decidedly does _not_ feel handsome, more moody and mysterious with the hoodie-jacket combo, but decides to leave it at that.

When he looks up, he realizes the school gates have closed.

“Damn,” he mumbles, and scrambles up from the bench to cross the street and shake the bars to get the guard’s attention. The guard grumbles something about slacker youth, but nonetheless lets him in.

Eliott heads to the principal’s office to pick up his schedule, ignoring all the stares as he tries to walk confidently through the school yard. He heads into the building but freezes in the doorway as he passes a jovial group of boys and one of them shoulder checks him.

Eliott barely catches his side profile as the boy turns to animate the conversation they’re having about the holidays with his hands. Short, perfect hair, beautiful smile. His heart beats unevenly, and he gawks until some girl shoves past him to get into the building.

Eliott heads inside in a daze.

When he reaches the principal’s office, he sees the counselor he met with when he came in with his parents to finalize the transfer waiting for him with a friendly looking girl at his side. The girl looks younger than Eliott and seriously? Are they gonna stick him with an underclassman? 

“Eliott!” M. Allés greets, and sticks his hand out to shake. Eliott takes it before he waves at the girl. “I hope you’ve been doing well and are ready to get started! Marion has offered to accompany you to your first class as well as introduce you to some of the student activities we offer,” he says. Marion smiles brightly at him and shakes his hand as well. She seems nice.

“Of course,” he says, and accepts his schedule with little bravado before Marion leads him out of the office and to the fourth floor where he has his first class of the day, history.

“Thanks,” he says somewhat lamely as they stop in front of the classroom door, and she shrugs.

“It’s no problem! We have the same lunch block as well so I’ll come say hello again if you’d like,” she says cheerfully, and Eliott nods.

“Sure,” he replies, and then she’s gone, curls bouncing behind her.

He steps into the classroom to be met by more stares.

It’s not a horrible class, but the math class down the hall is, so by the time lunch does roll around he books it for the cafeteria and claims a table in the corner, pulling his lunch from his backpack as he observes all the students milling about and filing in with their own meals.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the boy from the morning with his friends leaving the cafeteria. He turns, as if he can feel Eliott’s eyes on him, but the moment before their gazes lock he walks smack dab into a pillar and his friends howl with laughter as he grabs his head and stumbles back. They disappear around the corner, and Eliott wishes the boy saw him.

“Hi!” a now-familiar voice says, and Eliott tears his eyes away from the offending pillar to see Marion standing in front of him with a fashionably-dressed blonde by her side.

“I’m Daphné,” the blonde says excitedly as she shoves a flyer into his face. “I know you’re a third year, but you are new so I thought this would be a fun chance to help you meet new people? We are renovating the foyer and are looking for people to join our committee, to give new insights and perspectives. You should come, we would love to have you!” she exclaims, and there’s something about her bubbly personality that endears her to Eliott. He accepts the flyer with a smile.

“Of course I’ll be there.”

* * *

Lucas does _not_ want to be here. In fact, the only reason he’s here is so Imane will give him back the weed she stole (in his opinion) from him, which he isn’t even sure she’ll do. She’s probably just manipulating him.

“Hi Lucas!” Daphné says excitedly as she flounces over and twists her hands in front of herself. “Are you here for the meeting? It’s gonna be awesome,” she says hopefully, and Lucas nods and sighs as he sets his things down in a chair.

“Oh yeah,” he grumbles, but she clearly misses his displeasure. He can see Alexia, Imane and Emma snickering and talking quietly over Daphy’s shoulder and he glares at them.

“That’s great!” she all but chirps, and Lucas gets the feeling she was probably a bright pink canary in a past life.

“Ok, we’re gonna do something so awesome that no one is gonna want to leave lycée!” Daphy declares.

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve heard today,” Alexia chimes in, and Imane fights back a smile. Daphy suddenly lights up and whips out her phone.

“Guys! A picture for Manon!” She says as they all crowd into the frame. The girls wave Lucas over and he drags his feet unhappily.

“She’ll be sad about being in London,” Imane says sarcastically, and Daphné snaps the photo just as Lucas approaches them.

Alexia and Emma start to crack up, and Lucas scowls.

Two guys step into the foyer hesitantly, and Lucas nudges Daphné’s shoulder. “There’s a crowd,” he mutters, and she skips over to initiate them into the foyer cult. They look fucking clueless, and Lucas goes back to sulk in his chair.

_Last message sent from **you** to **Chat le gang** : read by all._

Great. The guys have ditched him here and he can’t leave without looking rude or losing the weed.

Suddenly Yann and the boys pop into the room and spot Lucas, surrounding him. “Yo!” Basile shouts, and Lucas smiles as the boys sit down, Baz bumbling about seeing Daphy up close. A handful of other people sit behind him.

“So, whats the deal? Didn’t you say there’d be drinks?” Yann asks, and then Arthur leans over Basile.

“Yeah, and girls?” he adds in as he waves his watch in front of Lucas’s face. They’re all extremely eager to find their soulmates and think it’s just hilarious to tease Lucas about how he doesn’t really buy into it. Lucas smiles nicely back and holds up his own wrist, where the watch face is covered by electrical tape. He got sick and tired of watching his parents crumble and the time go down years ago. He knew plenty of other people who also covered their watches so it would be a surprise when it came off.

“Are you blind, guys?” Lucas asks, and waves at the front of the room. “There are four girls in front of you, and if you want a drink, there’s orange juice over there,” he says smugly.

“Seriously, Lucas?” Yann groans, and the guys all mutter their agreement.

The disastrous make out session from the party that weekend- Chloé- walks in and sits down the aisle from Lucas, drawing his attention away from Basile acting like a fool. God, not this again. She winks at him, and Lucas turns away, not quite understanding the shame burning in his stomach. People had flings before meeting their soulmates all the time, but Lucas didn’t know why they all felt so fake.

Two more presences register behind Lucas and he turns. There’s Marion, and then-

A boy he has never seen before, who looks straight out of a fairytale, looks directly at him.

The clasp to his watch clicks open, and Lucas freezes as he feels it fall into his lap.

He tears his eyes away and looks down at his bare wrists. He discreetly peels the tape off his watch and stares at the watch face.

00:00:00:00:00:00. Time’s up.

He shoves his watch into his pocket while people are still distracted and yanks his sleeve down to cover his newly bared wrist as he risks a glance over his shoulder again. The boy doesn’t seem to have any reaction whatsoever, but then he notices the common strip of black fabric many use to bind their watch to their wrist, to conceal the time and keep it from falling. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

The first thought, unbidden: _My soulmate is a boy?_ Then, _fuck, he’s so goddamn hot_. Confusion makes it hard to breathe, and Lucas’s nails dig into his palms as he tries to steady his breathing. 

“Lucas... Lucas... Luuuuucaaaa...” Arthur and Basile whisper in his ear, and he looks at them suddenly.

“Okay,” he says blankly, and they look at him oddly.

“What do you mean, ok?” Arthur asks, and Lucas shrugs before abruptly standing up, grabbing his things and leaving the room as fast as he can, everyone’s eyes on him. His breathing worsens as the door shuts behind him and he speed-walks for the school gates, tears prickling at his eyes.

Lucas starts to walk blindly, praying that his panicking breath will calm down and the tears will stop trickling down. A few passerby shoot him worried looks, but no one says anything.

Lucas walks until his feet hurt and he sinks down on a bench outside a small park. The sun is beginning to become hidden by the buildings around him, and Lucas puts his face in his hands. There’s so much to think about.

All his life, he’s been disillusioned by his parents’ broken relationship and a cynical view towards soulmates. If his mother hasn’t met hers, how should he? And for it to be a boy? Of course, same-sex soulmates were welcomed in society, but it still wasn’t as common. He just hadn’t even considered he could be one of them. Almost all the media about relationships pre-soulmates showed a boy and a girl. 

A voice deep inside asks if he’s really that surprised, and Lucas feels sick. He doesn’t even know his soulmate’s name. Or if his soulmate’s watch came off too. What if it didn’t, and Lucas is... Lucas is broken?

Lucas stands up and takes a deep breath to reorient himself as he keeps walking. The sun eventually sets, and he finds himself in the 6th arrondissement as night falls, and he steps into a small, cramped grocery to buy a bottle of Yop. He pulls some crumpled euros out of his pockets to give the disgruntled cashier, then makes his way back into the Parisian night as he takes a sip of the drink. 

Google maps directs him towards the bus stop at Saint-Benoît as the best way to find a route home, and Lucas obeys. It’s a 10 minute walk to the stop, which is enough time for night to fully fall and for Lucas to finish and throw away the Yop bottle. He spots the stop a block down and approaches under the shelter roof to glance at the map. It’s going to be an annoying route to get home tonight. Maybe he shouldn’t have walked so far.

A slight movement catches his eye, and Lucas slowly steps to the side to peer out thru the plexiglass.

It’s him. What’s he doing all the way out here, too?

Nervousness twists Lucas’s stomach into knots, but he cautiously approaches him anyways. He has to ask, to know... _are you my soulmate?_

The boy is studying the machine like it has the mysteries of the universe crammed into its granola bars and sodas, and he does a double take when he notices Lucas. 

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t see you there. I don’t know what to get,” he says plainly, and Lucas blinks at how quickly the conversation has opened. He leans towards him and spots the bars he always gets.

“Number 24’s not bad,” he replies, and the boy ducks his head.

“Okay,” he murmurs, and starts to put some euros into the machine. He buys the last two, and Lucas looks at him in confusion.

“Oh shit! Did you want one?” he asks with a bright smile, and all Lucas can bring himself to do is shrug. Crunchy Choco Boy.

“Well good, they’re for both of us,” he barrels on. “You coming?” he tosses over his shoulder, and Lucas follows him under the bus shelter.

He makes sure there’s a seat between them when Lucas sits down. Crunchy Choco Boy pulls a blunt out from behind his ear and lights it up, before taking a deep inhale.

“It was a weird meeting, wasn’t it?” he asks, and Lucas nods.

“Yeah, it was... _weird_...” Lucas trails off. “Are you planning on actually helping out in the renovations?” he asks, and Crunchy Choco bobs his head sideways.

“Yes, I think it’s important,” he replies between drags, and Lucas squints at him.

“Fixing things up?” he questions, and the boy shakes his head.

“No, I mean, taking interest in a space for students. It’s cool,” he says. 

He hands the blunt towards Lucas, and Lucas feels something hot settle in his stomach at the thought of putting his mouth where the boy’s had just been. “It lets you meet new people,” he says as Lucas takes a drag. The hot feeling seeps lower. 

“You’re new?” Lucas asks instead of, can I see your watch?

The boy nods. “I started three weeks ago. Third year, literature course.”

“Isn’t it a bit weird to get here only five months before graduation?” Lucas responds, and something upset passes Crunchy Choco’s face before disappearing.

“That’s weird too?” he says with a half-smile, and Lucas’s gaze drops to cover his whole body, up and down. There’s no way he could have missed that look, and a tiny burn of embarrassment adds to the riot of emotions happening in his body. “Everything is weird with you,” the boy adds, and this time his smile is softer. Lucas laughs and so does he.

“I must be weird then,” Crunchy Choco says, and Lucas doesn’t like the way he says it.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

Lucas opens his mouth to reply, but there’s sudden a perky call of “Salut!” to his side. His smile fades. What the hell is Chloé doing out here, as well? Is this a party?

“How are you doing?” She asks, and beams down at Lucas.

“Great,” Crunchy Choco cuts in, and a proud part of Lucas is happy to note he sounds just as annoyed as Lucas feels.

“What about you?” Chloé wheels on Lucas, and he shrugs.

“Alright,” he mumbles, and she carries on.

“You left like a thief!” she exclaims before spotting the boy’s blunt, reaching out for it immediately as she says “Can I?”

The boy coughs and hands it off to her as she sits down between them and looks at Lucas’s pissed expression. An awkward silence falls. 

“The meeting was fun, wasn’t it?” she asks.

Lucas doesn’t know what to say to that, but blissfully Crunchy Choco swoops in to save him. This man is obviously an angel. “I believe the general consensus is that it was weird,” Crunchy Coco Angel replies.

Chloé nods. “Weird,” she echoes. “Yeah.”

The boy smirks and nods, before jerking his head at Lucas. “But we like weird, I think,” he says, and Lucas is at a serious risk of beginning to drool when he says ‘we.’ At least with Chloé here it gives him an excuse to push off the soulmate topic much longer and diverts the interest his brain and other parts of his body were starting to take in his maybe-soulmate. 

“I didn’t introduce myself. Chloé,” she says to Crunchy Choco Boy, and they shake hands.

“Hi,” he says, and she giggles.

“Well, what about you?” she asks.

“Eliott,” he says warmly, and Lucas slowly looks over. _Eliott_.

“Nice to meet you, Eliott,” she says and it sounds distant, Lucas focusing on the way Eliott leans forward to face him.

“I’m Eliott,” he says, and Lucas just stares at him. Eliott seems to find it funny as he finishes his blunt off. 

The bus arrives and Lucas and Eliott stand up, Chloé with them. “Well, I don’t need to take this route but I will so I can hang out with you guys a little longer! I can just get off in a stop or two,” she says, and Lucas feels his annoyance rise to new levels. He doesn’t even bother responding, just jerks a nod and quickly steps forward to stand behind Eliott as they line up to get on the bus. They swipe their scan cards and shuffle down the aisle.

Lucas hopes Eliott doesn’t find it too rude as he half pushes him into one of the rows of two seats, immediately sitting down next him, leaving Chloé to look annoyed and sit down across the aisle. Ha. 

Eliott gives him an amused look and leans in to whisper in his ear. “What’s that all about?” he asks, and Lucas quickly plops his backpack in his lap in case his body gets any ideas about sitting this closely to Eliott.

“I tripped,” he murmurs back, and Eliott gives him a look that says _I totally don’t believe you, but I’ll let it slide._

Eliott’s thigh presses up against Lucas as the bus starts down the street, and in the corner of his eye, Lucas can see Chloé sulking in her seat. 

Chloé stomps off at the next stop, leaving Eliott and Lucas on their own with the handful of other people on the bus. Eliott digs a pair of earbuds from his bag and plugs them into his phone. He offers one to Lucas and they lean together to look at the screen. Eliott opens a playlist titled “Tonight” and hits play on [_La rivière_](https://youtu.be/EoeRJ3Ah-WI). The crooning opening notes begin to play and they settle into their seats.

Lucas closes his eyes and listens to the music as he keeps a mental tally of the stops.

This is pleasant, the [third song](https://youtu.be/NUyUn5khxuE) ending and no one bothering them as Eliott and Lucas press closer than strictly necessary, just short of resting their heads on each other’s shoulders. 

The bus pulls to a stop, and Lucas is pulled from their bubble. He takes the earbud out and Eliott blinks sleepily at him. 

“This is my stop,” Lucas says hesitantly as he stands up, and starts to head for the doors.

“Wait!” Eliott says, and jumps up to grab his sleeve. Lucas’s heart starts to beat a little faster, and he has a sudden image of Eliott kissing him. He pushes it away and looks at him expectantly. “What’s your name?” Eliott asks, and Lucas goes red. He never said, did he?

“Lucas,” he replies, and then the bus driver is asking him to get off if this is his stop. Eliott lets go of his arm and watches as Lucas gets off the bus and stands on the sidewalk. They stare at each other through the window, and Eliott waves as the bus pulls away from the curb, leaving Lucas standing alone.

Lucas can’t believe all those stories about love at first sight are true.

* * *

“You’re in a good mood,” Dad remarks from the couch when Eliott gets home later that night, and Eliott beams.

“I had a good day,” he says simply, and Dad smiles as him as he slings his backpack to the ground and shakes off his jacket.

“That’s good. There’s Chinese leftovers in the fridge if you want,” he says, and obviously Eliott isn’t going to turn that down so he grabs the carton from the fridge and heads off to his room for the night. He pulls his hoodie off and rubs at his watch wrist. The binding fabric feels too tight today, so Eliott unwraps it to retie it more loosely, determinedly not looking at the watch.

But when he unties the fabric, his watch thumps gently onto his bed and Eliott’s heart stops.

There are zeros scrawled all over the watch face and Eliott’s mind starts to race. He met his soulmate...?

He starts to rack his mind for who it could possibly be. No one immediately springs to mind except Lucas, when he just suddenly left the meeting. But wouldn’t he have said something?

Maybe he heard about Eliott’s past and when he found out, didn’t want anything to do with him. 

Eliott shakes his head. He was sure no one knew about last year here. 

It might not even be Lucas, but something inside of him desperately wanted it to be.

He picks up the watch that has covered his wrist for 18 years. Perhaps Lucas didn’t even notice if his own watch came off, it was possible. Was Lucas just scared to say something? Either way, Eliott had to know. 

His phone pings. _So you’re just ignoring me now?_ the message reads.

Eliott gives a frustrated huff and throws his phone to the floor. He finally told Lucille that he needed a break from their relationship and that went over about as well as an anvil.

They weren’t going to last much longer, and they both knew it. He asked for them to go on a break and who knows how long it was going to last. 

Eliott grabs instead a chunk of graphite and piece of paper as he sits down at his desk, and begins to draw without thinking much about it.

Tiny raccoons litter the bottom of the paper half an hour later, and in the center, Lucas stares up at him with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck.

Eliott throws the paper out and goes to bed. Lucas is already waiting for him in his dreams when he falls asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *TW: discussion of police brutality in an online comment*
> 
> welcome back!! we have a pretty Eliott centric chapter this week because I was interested in exploring the apartment scene from his perspective as well as fleshing out his “behind the scenes” moments as well. I can’t write slow burn to save my life so here’s some sweet stuff for y’all :) Thank you so much for your incredible response to the first chapter! I hope I can continue to bring a smile to your face!

Lucas wakes up sweaty and shaking when he opens his eyes, and groans in annoyance when he lifts up the sheet. Looks like it’s laundry day.

Mika laughs at his grumpy countenance and lets him take the first shower only if he promises to make him some coffee when he’s done, and Lucas begrudgingly agrees. He is still very much groggy this morning, and Lucas hopes a shower will wake him up as he makes faces at himself in the mirror. 

His dream comes back to him in flashes when he steps under the warm spray, and Lucas’s head thunks against the tile of the shower wall. He’s fucked. Fucked and getting hard again thinking about some guy he’s really only met once. 

He waits to wash himself off until he’s come again embarrassingly quickly to the thought of Eliott pushing him against a wall and sliding his hand down the front of Lucas’s jeans, working him slowly. Lucas has to bite his hand to keep from moaning too loudly.

He finishes his shower with military precision and throws his Romance hoodie on to hide his watch-less wrist before setting about washing his sheets, boxers, and other items in need of laundering before setting on a pot of coffee and flopping onto the couch next to Lisa to wait.

She has the TV onto the late-morning cartoon channel, and they’re playing _Moomins on the Riviera_. Lucas smiles.

Lucas leans back against the couch and props his feet up before pulling out his phone and deciding to scour social media for the literal man of his dreams.

_eliot_

_eliott_

Lucas stares at the mountain of search results. Jesus Christ, how many Eliotts are there in France?

_Friend request from Chloé Jeanson_

Lucas deliberates for a second but ultimately, the part of him the feels bad about blowing her off the other night wins. He accepts the request.

“Mika...” Lucas groans in annoyance as Mika steps over his legs and plops down on the couch unceremoniously between him and Lisa.

“I have a doubt, a terrible doubt...” Mika trails off dramatically, and Lucas rolls his eyes. “I can’t tell if you’re going to pay rent late or not at all.”

Lucas’s stomach drops, but not enough to truly tear him from his morning haze. “I’m late, I’m sorry. I’m waiting for my dad’s transfer. I’ll ask him again,” he says earnestly, and Mika gives him a sad smile.

“Like every other time,” he shoots back as his phone pings.

Then again. And again and again and again. “How are the notifications going?” Lucas asks with a false sweetness as Mika’s phone continues to chime.

“Don’t change the subject,” Mika grumps as he shifts further into the couch and unlocks his phone. “But yeah. Ever since I changed my profile picture, it never stops,” he says proudly before flashing Lucas an image of Mika shirtless, angled up from dick level. Lucas never wants to see that much of his friend again.

“Putain, Mika, seriously?” he exclaims as he tries to crawl off the couch away from him.

“What?” Mika demands.

“I don’t want to see you naked!”

“Come ON, the picture doesn’t even show anything,” Mika laughs. “At least you can see what a real man’s body looks like, you neglect yourself, Lucas!” he says suggestively, and Lucas feels a sudden flush rise to his face as he dodges Mika’s hands from pinching his sides.

“Ok, stop it,” Lucas snaps, and moodily pulls his hood over his head. He is fully aware looking like a sulking teen doesn’t help him, but, well.

“Lucas... I have another terrible doubt,” Mika sings beside him. Lucas pulls his own phone back out and frowns.

“What is it now?” he demands. 

“There’s a straight man who’s offering a blowjob with no chit-chat. Do you think that he wants me to suck his dick or that he wants to suck mine? Because if that’s what this is about, I’d definitely rather he not talk,” Mika says and Lucas gives him an annoyed look before Mika starts to mimic a blowjob.

“Stop it, Mika,” Lucas says flatly, and regrets the stupid fucking coffee pot he put on for Mika. It should all be for him. It’s too early for this shit.

“Ugh, I don’t understand how he thinks he could be straight or anything. Aww, Lucas, are you sensitive about people having sex before meeting their soulmates?” Mika coos, and Lucas frowns.

“No! I don’t care about that! Besides, maybe he just wants to try.”

Mika squints at him. “Try sex with a man or sex with someone who’s not his soulmate?”

Lucas stands up from the couch and heads towards his room. He can’t deal with this right now.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Mika asks, and Lucas turns to face him.

“Sorry I don’t want to spend my weekend looking at naked men you want to fuck,” Lucas says sarcastically, and Lisa snorts.

“I’ll help you, Mika,” she offers as Lucas stomps off the his room.

“Do you think he’s a prude?” Lucas can hear Mika asks as he closes his door behind him.

Lucas flops down on his bed and starts playing his rock playlist loud enough for it to be annoying, [Bitch](https://youtu.be/a4g8PxsG_j4) blasting over his speakers, but Mika and Lisa don’t bother him. He spends the rest of the weekend being lazy around the coloc, and it’s nice to not have some stress for once.

When Monday rolls around and Lucas gets to school, a brilliant idea strikes him. The third year notebook. It’s sure to have Eliott’s full name in it. He tries his best to act casual about it, and heads towards the cubbies that hold them and pages through the third year book until he spots it.

_Eliott Demaury._

Lucas smiles down at the name.

“Uh, that’s for my class.”

Lucas turns around to see Alex giving him an odd look. “What?” he says.

“The notebook. It’s the one for my class. The second year notebooks are right there,” he elaborates, and Lucas feels a prickle of embarrassment at being caught.

“Oh, you’re right!” Lucas exclaims. “I’m not usually in charge of it, that’s why,” he explains with a smile, and Alex just looks at him blankly.

“Okay. Can I have it?” he asks, and Lucas flounders before coming up with an excuse.

“Really happy for you and Emma, dude,” he says instead, and Alex’s brow furrows.

“Me and Emma?” he echoes, and Lucas nods.

“I don’t know, you were together last Friday and things seemed to be pretty good.”

“Did she tell you that?” Alex immediately questions, and Lucas realizes he fucked up here. Apologies to Emma, again.

“...No?” he says after a beat.

“Then who did?” Alex questions. 

“You know what? Never mind, I’m imagining things. Have a nice day, dude,” he says and hurries across the hall into his bio class as the bell rings.

He slides into an empty lab bench an immediately gets his phone out to google _Eliott Demaury_.

* * *

  
**CHAT AVEC LUCI**

_How long is this “”break”” supposed to last??_

I don’t know

_well if it’s going to be much longer you need to tell me Eli._

I just need some time to think about things. I don’t want you to worry

_I just hope if you’re breaking up with me you have the decency to do it in person. If you’re going to please just give me that_.

I’m not breaking up with you right now wtf! I’m not trying to hurt you

_We might not be soulmates but I still care about you and you can still hurt me_

You still hurt me sometimes too

_I know._

why do we always do this

_Because love hurts so fucking bad even if it’s not the right love_

I want you to find the right love someday

You deserve that

  
  
_i want that for you too  
_

_I know I’m not it_

_But I can’t help but care too much for you anyways_

We’ll be okay someday won’t we?

_yeah but not today._

Eliott throws his phone down on his bed.

“Fuck!” he screams into his pillow, and resolves to meet up with her at their favorite coffee shop tomorrow. 

* * *

_soulmates_ , Lucas types into the search bar. He feels like a researcher nowadays... all he’s been doing is trying to stalk Eliott on social media and googling random relationship questions every 5 minutes. Lucas scans the search results until a Quora catches his eye.

**What if I never meet my soulmate? What if I don’t even have one?**

Lucas clicks on it to see the responses.

_I’m not sure the context of this question, but it sounds like it may be from a familiar place as where I was when I was younger. To preface, Your location says you live in Canada, so I think you must have a good idea of what life is like for us in America. Everybody has a soulmate, that is a fact. Some people, it has been discovered, even have more than one, and that is because the trace particles of stardust that comprise our souls are naturally attracted to the particles in other people’s souls that come from the same section of the star you came from during the Big Bang. Ok enough science for now. I live in NYC, and in America we have relaxed views on soulmates. Plenty of people have happy relationships, even marriages with someone who isn’t their soulmate. Attraction is just something we can’t control._

_I will tell you something. Not everyone gets to have their soulmate, but I promise they’re out there._

_I remember the day I met my soulmate. I remember walking down the street to my job, turning the corner, and seeing the police pointing their guns at him him. He was unarmed._

_Well, we made eye contact, and of course our watches came off, and the motion of his watch falling from his raised hand alarmed one of the cops and they shot him point blank. He died immediately._

_So I never met my soulmate. Just like that he was gone, and now I am a heartbroken woman forever haunted by a love I will never know. They even tried to fucking interrogate me just because we wound up being soulmates. How sick is that?_

_So yes, to answer your question, soulmates end in tragedy sometimes. But I guarantee there is one out there for you._

_If you haven’t found them, you keep looking and when you find them, you protect them._

Lucas feels a little floored by that answer. There is one more response that catches his eye, brief and succinct.

_You are not broken. You will find them. I lost her but then I found her again, even if it took three years. They are out there._

Lucas shuts his laptop and looks out the window at the stars. Maybe this is he and Eliott’s chance to find each other. 

* * *

“This is exemplary,” Mme. Ducat notes as she pauses behind Eliott on her circuit around the room, observing their free choice graphite drawing assignments. Eliott’s fingertips are charcoal black as he smiles shyly at the praise.

It’s a frame from Polaris, of his character embracing the other being. He can almost hear Idriss’s voice in his ear- _you’ll always be the romantic who believes in soulmates, even if you act like you don’t, huh?_

The figure looks more defined now than in his original concept art for the project, forgotten along with his other broken mementos from second year. Instead of being a genderless being, its nose is more pronounced and the eyes have a definitive look to them, along with a short, masculine body.

The bell rings to signal the end of the school day, and Madame Ducat claps her hands for everyone to help clean up the studio. Eliott puts his piece into his portfolio at the back of the room, then goes around the room to collect the pieces of graphite while Amina follows behind him to gather scrap paper. The other students bustle around to help clean various surfaces.

Eliott likes the way everyone in their art class are so private but work so well together when they collaborate for a class project or cleanup. It’s definitely his favorite class. Clemente and Amina’s sister Mura catch up with him as he heads down the hallway, and Eliott slows so that they can match his pace.

Clemente is one of the few people that knows about Eliott’s history, being a fellow urban artist he’s worked with plenty of times, and they’ve shared their share of 1 am blunts. He has proven himself a reliable friend since Eliott’s transfer to Dorian and he’s happy to have him. Eliott knows Clemente has his own background he prefers to keep quiet, especially when people still try to call him Clara and he has to correct them again and again.

“Are you coming out this weekend?” Clemente asks with a smile, and Eliott shrugs as the three of them head down the stairs.

“Maybe. Is it a good site?” he asks, and Mura nods.

“Pretty sweet. Riskier area though- it’s a residential zone. They’re known for their, shall we say, clean _white_ picture of the future. There’s a blank wall on the side of a grocer’s we’re eyeing,” she says with a glint her eye as she scratches at her hijab, and Eliott smirks as he elbows the doors open and they make their way onto the street. 

“Pomelia, Nairobi, Mmkay, and of course we’re already in. You?” Clemente asks, and hands Eliott a picture of the design they’re planning to put up. It’s simple, the main figure clearly modeled from Mura in her hijab with the words _baise ta haine_ scrawled across her face in bright red paint as she sticks her middle finger up. 

“Hmm, yes. Both my parents will be away until Monday. You can put Otteli on the list,” he says confidently, and Clemente gives him a fist pump.

“Awesome! This is gonna be great. I’ll text the time and address before we meet up on Sunday, okay?” he promises, and the three of them salute each other before they duck down into a metro station, leaving Eliott to walk a few more minutes to the bus stop.

He slows as he approaches the stop, recognizing the figure huddled over his phone under the shelter. It’s Lucas.

Eliott walks over as quietly as he can, and Lucas is clearly too absorbed by whoever he’s texting to notice that Eliott has sat a seat away from him. He puts his phone down and looks off into the distance, before turning to face Eliott and gasping.

“Fuck, you scared me!” Lucas exclaims with a little smile, and Eliott finds a matching grin stretching across his face.

“Sorry, that wasn’t my intention,” he says, even though it totally was. Lucas’s reaction was just as cute as he thought it would be.

Lucas gives his head a little shake and looks back at Eliott. “You headed home?” he asks.

Eliott smirks. “Alright. You go straight for the personal questions. Okay.”

A striken look crosses Lucas’s face, as if Eliott had unwittingly reminded him of something he shouldn’t have, and he immediately goes to console him. “No, I’m kidding, Lucas!” he replies, and Lucas sighs in relief before looking down at the notification that’s popped up on his phone. He seems worried, and Eliott just wants to make it go away for him. They barely know each other, and maybe they’re not soulmates after all, but Eliott already cares. That’s how he knows he’s already in too deep. “Is there a problem?” he questions.

“It’s just that I’m supposed to bring beers to a party but I can’t withdraw money and my roommate’s not home.”

Eliott offers his help before he can even think about it, and Lucas shrugs modestly. “I don’t like to borrow money,” he says simply, and Eliott can’t help but laugh.

“Money? I don’t have money. But I do have beer. We can go to my place if you want,” he proposes.

“You sure?” Lucas asks, and Eliott wants to say _I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life._

But instead he thinks maybe he’s being too forward, so he sidetracks a little and decides to maybe be a little flirty. “No, let me guess... you think it’s weird?” Eliott asks. Lucas smiles shyly to himself, and something warm creeps up Eliott’s throat. They already have an inside joke.

The bus arrives before Lucas can reply, and Eliott stands up so Lucas can follow him on.

“Hello,” he greets the bus driver cheerfully. He smiles at Eliott.

“Hello,” he replies, and Eliott finds a pole to hold on to. Lucas stands next to him, his hands just below Eliott’s, and Eliott smiles down at him. Lucas has to tilt his head back to smile back at him properly, and Eliott swallows hard.

This time, it’s Lucas’s turn to pull out his earbuds and give one to Eliott. The music starts to play, and Eliott is a little surprised to hear [Des attractions désastre](https://youtu.be/bxsnkh4__io). Lucas doesn’t seem like a big Étienne Daho fan, but appearances are always deceiving when it comes to music. For example, Lucille’s affinity for Rezz and his dad’s love of metal.

The bus trundles down the street, exiting the more business-y area in favor of a smaller residential district.

_Ooh j'aime tout, j'veux me donner à vous_

_Avant que j'm'en aille, avant mes funérailles_

_De la vie faire ripaille, avant que j'm'en aille_

_Les flèches que Cupidon m'a décrochées_

Lucas coughs and turns red at the lyrics, and Eliott has to bite back his laugh. Was this song choice intentional? Lucas determinedly does not skip the song, instead letting the story of the singer’s world-encompassing attraction for the figure of his affections play out.

A much more suave, electronic song comes on as the bus stops. Two more to go.

“What’s this?” Eliott asks, and Lucas tilts his phone screen so Eliott can see it. [Larme à gauche](https://youtu.be/0M3qd1yOUdY), the music player reads.

Lucas’s eyes drift down to his lips, and Eliott has to look away.

They spend the rest of the 15 minute bus ride in silence, swaying slightly with the motion of the bus and listening to Lucas’s music together. Lucas crams his phone and earbuds into his pocket as Eliott hops off the bus. Eliott digs out his keys to the front gate of their apartment complex and wrangles it into the lock, before holding the door open for Lucas. When they get inside to the informal mail room, Eliott presses the button for the lift to take them to the third floor.

His phone pings, and Eliott checks it.

_Doing ok while we’re away? No burglaries of the apartment or crazy parties?_ his dad’s text reads. Eliott shakes his head with a smile and taps out a one handed response.

_All good. Have not burned it down... yet_

His dad responds with a laughing emoji, and Eliott shoves his phone back into his pocket as the lift doors open and deposit them in the hallway. Eliott approaches the apartment door and opens it to usher Lucas in.

Lucas looks around in interest as the door shuts behind them, and Eliott shrugs his jacket off. Lucas doesn’t bother shedding any of his layers as he walks into the living room, eyes catching on Eliott’s arts pinned all over the walls.

Eliott’s own raccoon at various stages in his life, his mother’s slender blonde fox, and his father’s friendly looking otter. The Demaury family, for any who enter their home to see.

Eliott heads into the kitchen to find a case of beer to give Lucas. He doesn’t drink too terribly much anyways, and he’s sure his father won’t mind.

“You’re giving me a whole suitcase?” Lucas questions, and Eliott shrugs.

“I’ve got plenty here,” he laughs. “Too much, I don’t know why. Did you want one before going to your party?” Eliott asks hopefully, praying to whoever’s listening that Lucas will say yes. Maybe they’ll be able to talk about the watches now. If Lucas had been wearing a short sleeve shirt, the question would be answered for him, but as it is Eliott can’t tell if he’s wearing a watch under the sleeve of his jacket and hoodie.

“Totally,” Lucas concedes, and Eliott puts two bottles down for them. Lucas finally takes his jacket and scarf off, and Eliott cracks open the tops. They clink before turning back to Eliott’s art.

“Did you draw these?” Lucas asks, the admiration obvious in his voice.

“Yeah. That was a long time ago. I can draw myself much better now.”

Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. His raccoon is much sadder and fluffier than when he was 13.

“That’s supposed to be you, there? The... what is that? A badger?” Lucas asks with a smile. Eliott tries not to roll his eyes.

“A badger, seriously? It’s a raccoon. It’s my spirit animal,” Eliott replies.

“The _badger_ is your spirit animal?” Lucas says, and Eliott can’t tell if he’s fucking with him.

“The _raccoon_ ,” he repeats, and starts to elaborate at the sight of Lucas’s mischievous smile. “Raccoons are awesome! Plus, they wear masks.”

He drags his fingers over his eyes and Lucas gives a little laugh. “Ok, I see. And me, if you had to draw me? How would you draw me?” he wants to know. Eliott turns to fully face him and take him in. That’s a good question.

A north star, a boy sitting on a Parisian bench all by himself, a... something unassuming but special, just like himself.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Lucas wiggles his eyebrows, and Eliott waves a finger at him. The look on Lucas’s face is far too fond right now, and Eliott wishes he had a blunt right now. “It’s a shame I don’t have anything left to smoke,” he says, and then Lucas reaches into his pocket.

“Well, then it’s my treat,” he replies as he extends a bag of weed to Eliott.

“Alright! No kidding, huh?” he says before he accepts the bag and opens it to take a sniff. Fuck, this is the proper stuff.

He quickly goes to grab his little tin from under his bed and brings it back to the living room for Lucas. Lucas grabs two sheets of paper and pours some weed on them both before rolling them expertly, one for himself and one for Eliott. Eliott lights them up and settles into the chair across from Lucas on the couch.

They take a few hits in pleasant silence before Eliott speaks up.

“Well, since you’re headed to a party later tonight, how about you tell me a good party story?” he says.

“Hmm, a party story,” Lucas contemplates. “Would you like an embarrassing story about one of my friends?” he asks, and Eliott nods.

“Okay. Then I’ll go with the flamingo story. So I’m friends with Basile, I don’t know if you know him... he’s my year, curly hair, goofy smile, no social skills and we love him to death. And he’s also helplessly in love with this girl, Daphné,” Lucas explains, and Eliott points his blunt towards him.

“Yes, I know Daphné,” he replies, and Lucas grins as he takes a hit of his blunt before speaking.

“Good, then you know she can be a little... intense. Well anyways, we were invited to this big party a few months ago thrown by our friend Emma. So me, Basile, Arthur and Yann all decide to pregame beforehand and we went a little bit hard on it so we were all already a bit tipsy. It was already pretty busy when we got there since Emma usually throws big parties and they can be kinda weird sometimes. But we find her and the girls and Basile is pretty much drooling over Daphné and talking about how he wishes that their watches had come off when they met, but they didn’t, which was a kinda awkward opener for all of us coming over to say hello to the girls. But they thought it was funny too,” Lucas pauses before taking a breath of smoke. He exhales it softly. “And that’s when Emma told us it was a blow party, whatever the fuck that means. Me and Arthur thought she was talking about cocaine and Yann thought she was talking about blowjobs. So imagine our surprise when we find out she means blow, as in blow-up. Like, inflatable,” Lucas laughs, and he sounds kind of loopy. It’s so fucking cute.

“To be fair I would have assumed she meant cocaine too and would have gotten the fuck out,” Eliott says, and Lucas nods heavily.

“Exactly! Exactly, that’s the logical assumption when you say ‘blow.’ Just say inflatable!” he exclaims, and Eliott agrees eagerly.

“But an inflatable party sounds awesome. Did she have a bounce house?” he asks, and Lucas shakes his head sadly.

“No, which was super shitty. That would have been awesome. No, they had inflatable pool floats and palm trees instead, and... an inflatable flamingo,” he says dramatically as he exhales more smoke.

“Ok, well, wait a moment. What’s the point of having an inflatable party if there’s not a bouncy house?” Eliott asks, and Lucas shakes his head.

“I think some people simply don’t have the type of taste to organize an amazing party like we could,” Lucas responds with a big smile. Eliott’s heart skips a beat. _Like we could._

“If we threw a party, what would we have there?”

Lucas takes a moment to consider. “Obviously we are going to have the bouncy house. And booze. Hmm, I’ve always thought balloon artists were dope too, we would also have one of those. And a chocolate fountain,” he supplies. All inspired choices, Eliott thinks. He would so fucking go to a party like that.

“Hold on. We also need to have face paint and weed. And a pool, of course. And... a bonfire, and those weird bubbles you get into and run into other people. But not those two at the same time!” Eliott quickly corrects, and Lucas starts laughing. Smoke comes out of Eliott’s mouth and he starts laughing too, turning into a cough with its force.

“I can’t tell if this party we’re planning is a carnival or secretly the best party ever!” Lucas chuckles, and Eliott lets a look of fake disdain cross his face.

“What do you mean, secretly? It’s obvious that it’s the best party ever,” Eliott tells him. He feels that familiar floaty feeling begin to set in, and he can tell that Lucas is feeling it too with the way his smile is gauzy and he’s looking at Eliott in a way that makes him feel naked.

Lucas squints as if trying to remember something. “Wait. Where was I in the story?” he asks.

“I think... the flamingo was introduced,” Eliott supplies helpfully, and Lucas lights up.

“That’s right! So... yes, for some reason, there’s a giant inflatable flamingo in the living room that Basile finds. And because it’s so pink and pretty it reminds him of Daphné so he picks it up and starts to caress its beak. It was so fucking funny, you should have been there. And then he started to whisper in his ear and obviously, he kept drinking and tried to offer the flamingo one too.”

Lucas starts to laugh at his own story, and it reminds Eliott of the time in first year he and Sofiane went out to a party and Sofiane got drunk for the first time. Idriss had been _so_ pissed when they stumbled his place, but he covered for them.

Eliott misses those days, and it makes his heart clench. But he kept listening as Lucas continues, oblivious.

“...and by that time Basile was drunk off his ass, I mean completely trashed. Eventually he stumbled off to the bathroom and we followed him to make sure he was okay. But then he started kissing the fucking flamingo and telling it it was sexy and I think we all knew where that was going so we took it from him and I think Arthur burned it. We decided it was time to go after that, and we were just about to make it out the door when Basile-“ Lucas cuts himself off with his own laughter, cracking up at the memory.

“He- he ran into Daphné one more time as we were half out the door, and then he fell down over the door and puked in the sidewalk!” he says as he wipes a tear away. “I swear, he emptied his whole stomach,” Lucas declares, and Eliott laughs.

“Fuck, how embarrassing!”

“Disgusting,” Lucas agrees.

“I would have left right away,” Eliott says, and tries to imagine a world in which he would try to fuck an inflatable flamingo. Maybe he actually would if he was drunk enough, and the story suddenly seems more legit.

“Yeah, same. You flee. You run for your life, I think!” he exclaims. Eliott chokes a little on his beer from laughing, then gets up to change the record.

Night has fallen outside of his window, and Eliott flicks through his record collection before finding the one he wants. He’s going to keep Lucas on his toes.

The apartment falls into a lull save the soft tap of Lucas’s fingers on his phone and a dog barking in the street below.

Eliott pulls the vinyl from its sleeve. This record has fun memories- his first rave, covered in glow paint and sweating, jumping and laughing and having the time of his life.

“Let me guess... a little Chopin?” Lucas asks behind him, and Eliott wheels around with an easy smirk. It’s good sign that Lucas immediately assumes he’ll play some soft romantic music, even though he couldn’t be more wrong. “No, no, nope! A good old jazz song,” he guesses again.

“A good old jazz song? Do I look old fashioned to you?” Eliott questions, a smile rising higher as he sets the record down.

“No, you don’t. It’s just that... your old turntable there... it makes you look like an antique collector,” Lucas says with a charming smile.

Eliott sets the pin on the record. “Alright, well, listen to this,” he says, and waits for the synth to really kick in before he starts to swing his hand down and begins to jump as it sets into the erratic rhythm of heavy electronics. Lucas stares at him like he’s grown a second head, and Eliott starts to jump even more.

“Do you like that?” Eliott yells over the record, and Lucas’s body language screams wtf, but he instead says- “It’s cool!”

He’s starting to look more endeared. Good. Maybe he’ll even start to dance. He begins to bob his head, and Eliott leans in close to wave his arm in a circle. Lucas smiles shyly and Eliott turns the music down as he returns to his seat.

“It’s just not the kind of music I usually listen to,” Lucas admits.

“Oh yeah? What do you listen to then?” Eliott questions curiously.

“I don’t know, something more rock n roll. Umm, Nirvana, The Stones, The Beatles...” Lucas raises his eyebrows dramatically. “...The Clash!” he exclaims.

“I see. And I’m the old-fashioned one?” Eliott teases. Lucas bites his lip and grins down at his lap. “I can put some Queen on, if you want,” he offers before a hit of the blunt, but Lucas shakes his head.

“No, it’s fine. I like discovering new things,” he says, and Eliott lazily blows a smoke ring at him and starts to bob his head again. Lucas begins to move with him, before putting a hand on his ear then pretending to mix a turntable like a DJ. They both fall into a peal of laughter and keep going until the record ends.

“Go pick something,” Eliott says as he gestures at the record shelf, and Lucas obeys, getting up to peruse the options. Eliott pinches the blunt between his lips and shuffles over to sit on the couch. Lucas gives him a warm look over his shoulder before he returns the other record to the shelf and puts on the A-side of a La femme record.

Lucas comes back and slumps down next to Eliott. Lucas’s blunt has disappeared and Eliott still has a fair bit left so they start to pass it back and forth. They don’t speak, simply enjoying the music and the weed, and it’s perfect.

About [the fifth song](https://youtu.be/-55NdU_G28o) in, Eliott turns to look at Lucas. His eyes are shut and his head is leant back against the wall, leaving the lines of his body to look loose and soft. His neck slopes elegantly towards his chest, and Eliott can’t help but stare at where the sleeves of his hoodie ring around his fingers. Eliott wants to push the sleeves up and see, see if he-

-if they are what he thinks, but now is not the moment. Eliott turns back to the front and sucks in a breath of smoke before handing it back to Lucas. Lucas is obviously already in the clouds, but he takes one last hit anyways.

The [last song](https://youtu.be/Xt4ss_MSRKs) starts to play, and they’re both in their own world until the record ends and starts to make fuzzy skipping noises. They still don’t move for another few minutes.

There’s not much left of the blunt when Eliott raises it to his lips, but that’s alright. “Fuck, we need to change the record,” he says in a gravelly voice and tilts his head towards Lucas. Lucas turns to face him, his eyes skipping from Eliott’s eyes to his nose to his mouth then back again. He keeps staring even when Eliott turns back away, the weight of Lucas’s gaze so heavy that it hurts his lungs.

“You don’t want to get up at all, do you?” Lucas replies in a voice just as low. He sounds fucked out, and out of context his words could be applied to a far different situation than just sitting on the couch. Eliott wonders if Lucas is thinking about _them_ doing _something else._

“Yeah, no, right now zero,” Eliott responds, and Lucas’s eyes stick to where Eliott’s blunt pokes out of his mouth, before he finally gets up and takes the record off. Instead of coming back, he opens the piano lid and taps a key.

“You know how to play?” he asks over his shoulder.

Maman is the piano player, not him, despite her best efforts. “Well, I can tell you my cover of Für Elise is killer,” Eliott shrugs, and Lucas snorts. “I can also play the Star Wars theme, but I don’t want to impress you too much.” That’s a lie.

“Can I give it a try?” Lucas asks hopefully. Eliott nods, and Lucas settles down on the bench. He taps three ascending keys.

“I have a triangle too, if you want,” Eliott says in a hope to see that smile again. It works, and Lucas grins at him with a giggle. Eliott takes his last hit and throws the blunt in the ashtray.

Lucas plays the same three notes again before adding a fourth. He does it three more times, faster each repetition until they all blend together, then he adds his other hand and the song begins to truly flow. It’s so simple, but so beautiful, and starts to fill the room like a river. Eliott wasn’t expecting that.

He leans forward as if pulled by a magnet, and that’s how he _knows_.

Lucas is his soulmate.

He keeps playing. The song changes key, and Lucas looks over his shoulder to smile at him. Eliott can’t stop his own smile, and it feels like the music is settling into his bones.

“Let me see your wrist,” Eliott suddenly blurts out, and Lucas’s fingers stumble across the keys, clanging discordantly as he turns around to face him in shock.

“What?” he squeaks, and it’s too late to backtrack now. The sudden change in mood has really killed his high.

“Your... can I see your wrist?” he asks again, and a riot of emotions cross Lucas’s face. Shock, fear, excitement, anticipation. Lucas stands up slowly before walking over to stop in front of where Eliott is on the couch. From this angle, Eliott’s the one who has to look up.

Fear is the emotion that has landed on Lucas’s face, and he doesn’t move. Their eyes stay locked as Eliott slowly reaches out to grab a hold of Lucas’s arm. He only breaks eye contact to look down at Lucas’s forearm as he pushes up his sleeve.

His wrist is bare.

Eliott’s heartrate picks up, and he suddenly feels very sober. He lifts his own arm into Lucas’s field of vision as he pushes up his own sleeve to show a wrist similarly devoid of a watch.

“When did yours come off,” Lucas softly demands, a heavy note of urgency weighing his voice.

“The day of the foyer meeting,” Eliott replies, voice a whisper. Lucas grasps his arm and stares down at Eliott’s wrist.

“Mine came off the first time I ever saw you... in the middle of the foyer meeting,” he says, nearly trembling. Eliott stands up, causing Lucas to stumble back a half step as he adjusts his stance to look up at him. Lucas gently grabs Eliott’s other wrist and slides his hands down so their palms touch, then turns their hands so that their fingers lock together.

Just like in Polaris.

Lucas’s hands are the first to pull away as he places them on either side of Eliott’s face, and he goes down willingly into a passionate kiss. Lucas gets on his tiptoes and throws his arms fully around Eliott’s neck, and Eliott hoists him a few inches off the ground as their mouths slot together sweetly. Lucas gasps excitedly as Eliott sets him back down with a laugh, and pulls him into another kiss.

“I didn’t really believe in soulmates,” Lucas murmurs against his lips, and Eliott shakes his head.

“Why not?”

“It just seemed so... unrealistic,” he explains, and Eliott kisses the side of his mouth, then his jaw, then peppers them down his neck. Lucas leads his chin up with a finger.

“Do you believe in soulmates now?” Eliott asks, and Lucas stares deep into his eyes.

“I’m not sure, but I get the feeling you might be able to convince me,” he replies slyly.

* * *

Lucas feels like he’s floating. His phone is filled with pissed notifications from Chloe and the boys, but he can’t find it in himself to be bothered. He even forgot the case of beer at Eliott’s.

Oh well. Fuck that party, anyways.    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously go listen to the songs I linked in the scene where they’re listening to the la femme record... their songs would have been awesome in the show!! subscribe to see what these French idiots will do next 👀👀 See you next week, stay happy and healthy!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! We’ve reached my favorite chapter!! We are now approaching the really canon divergent section of the fic, but I’m sure you will still recognize some scenes and dialogue ;) We’ll be picking up from the night after the apartment scene to look at some off screen relationships and moments & floor it from 50 to 100 in the sexual tension department

He’s late, he knows, but he can’t be bothered to care when he still feels like someone has poured a galaxy of stars into his stomach from yesterday. Eliott finally slips into the alleyway the address on his phone had directed him to, to find the group all waiting on him.

“Very nice of you to join us,” a voice that Eliott recognizes as Nairobi says from behind a La Casa de Papel mask says. She loves the show and her murals based off it are always very popular with urban art fans, even if the Paris utilities and police departments don’t really share the sentiment.

Mmkay has opted to just leave his motorcycle helmet on, whereas Pomelia has put on a cheap looking plastic mask of Darth Vader. Mura and Clemente, there as notquite and Kaki, both wear simple black cloth face masks similar to his own.

The store who’s wall they’ll be doing tonight is shuttered and dark at this midnight hour, and Clemente hands out copies of the design to all of them with their sections designated. Mura has the face, Clemente the torso, Eliott the right side, Mmkay the left, leaving Pomelia and Nairobi to split the background. They all set down the bags full of jangling spray paint cans down and get to work.

_Lucaslucaslucaslucas_ , his mind repeats as he paints, and he feels at peace knowing he’s found the boy who was made to share his love and he’s creating art that makes him feel like he’s spraying history onto the wall.

They’re quick and tidy, a well oiled machine under the pressure of being discovered at any moment. The fumes quickly begin to fill the alley as the minutes tick by and their image becomes a reality, but their masks work fairly well. Eliott, Mura, and Clemente all swap for stronger N95 masks at some point, and Eliott can only assume Pomelia and Nairobi have something on beneath their masks too. Time is limited, and Eliott loves the silent precision they share.

After about 30 minutes or so, they all step back and look at their handiwork, a nod of agreement rippling across them. They all pull out their stencils and put them across the bottom of the artwork to signal their work and collaboration. A pomelia flower, a pyramid, an O. K. hand symbol, a persimmon,a tiny scrawl of Arabic and a raccoon now mark the bottom in black spray paint.

The lettering is fantastic on it- angry red on top of a haze of glow-in-the dark paint that makes it stand out. They all snap a picture of the mural, presumably to share with their friends and amongst the urban art networks, and Eliott feels deeply satisfied as he looks up at it.

_Baise ta haine_. Fuck your hate.

They all disperse quickly, their job done, and Eliott heads off into the dark precursor of morning.  
  


* * *

Monday morning. 3 days since Friday, since he met his _soulmate_. He still can’t believe it.

Lucas feels a trickle of guilt as the boys approach him at his locker with somber faces.

“What’s up?” Arthur asks as they all fist bump. Lucas knows he deserves the anger they must be feeling from him just cutting them off to go to Eliott’s then ignoring them all weekend. He owes Chloe some explanation too.

“What was that shitty plan, man!” Basile blurts out. “We missed one hell of a party because of you!” he snaps, and Yann rolls his eyes.

“Chill, they were first years,” he says.

“No, I won’t chill! The first years are super hot, and I could’ve gotten laid!” Basile continues.

“Relax! That wasn’t a fancy dress up party, they would have recognized you,” Arthur shoots back scathingly.

“Yeah, ok, alright, let’s all come to his defense.”

“We’re not coming to his defense, but what the hell is this? It wasn’t the party of the year, that’s all,” Arthur argues back, and Lucas steps in to diffuse things.

“Listen guys, I’m sorry. It’s just... this weekend, I...” Lucas trails off. How is he supposed to tell his friends? He runs a hand across his face in exasperation, and that’s when Yann freezes.

“Where’s your watch?” he says in shock, and immediately all their gazes lock onto Lucas’s very much empty wrist.

“Holy fuck!” Basile squawks, his tone completely changed. “Holy fuck, Lucas, did you find your soulmate?” he practically yells, and Lucas leans forward to slap a hand over Basile’s mouth. The expressions on the boys’ faces are priceless.

“Not so loud!” Lucas hisses. “I don’t want the whole school to know. I’m not ready for some people to find out yet!”

Arthur gives him a bewildered look. “Well, you better tell us who your soulmate is, at least! Is she hot? Do we know her?” he demands quickly, and Lucas just steps back and smiles.

“You’ll find out,” he promises cryptically, before remembering the weed in his pocket. He hands it back to Arthur. “I know some is missing, sorry about that,” he says, not feeling sorry at all, and the boys are still not over their dropped jaws.

The bell rings for class, and they all disperse.

“Don’t you dare think this is the end of the conversation, Lulu!” Arthur yells over his shoulder and Lucas rolls his eyes with a smile as he steps into English. Lucas hates the subject, but Mrs. Denney is an excellent teacher with lots of interesting stories from when she lived in America.

They have speaking presentations today, and Lucas curses himself up for not remembering. It goes decently anyways and Lucas starts counting down the minutes until class ends.

The bell finally rings again and Lucas rushes out into the hall, internally cringing at what his grade might be for that. Students mill about, heading into the city at the end of the day. Lucas turns and spots Chloé with her friend headed in his direction.

Fuck. He really doesn’t want to talk to her, but she deserves an explanation. Lucas weighs his options as they come closer, and begrudgingly decides he’d better just get it over with. He wouldn’t want to be led on like this, so he probably shouldn’t do it to someone else.

Chloé and her friend (Reneé, maybe) pass him and Chloé gives him a dirty look. Lucas grabs her arm lightly.

“Can we talk?” he asks.

Chloé shakes his hand off but stops nonetheless. She waves her friend off and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Fine. You better have an explanation for this weekend,” she says.

Lucas sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he leans back against the lockers. He doesn’t even know how to say this.

“Listen, Chloé, I... I met this really wonderful first year girl at party recently. But then I acted horribly to her and ignored her and all this other shit, and I feel so bad. So now I have to figure out how to apologize,” Lucas says, and Chloé’s look softens.

Chloé leans forwards, as if to kiss him, and Lucas lays a gentle hand on her shoulder. She pauses, looking confused.

“The reason I ignored you this weekend was because I found my soulmate,” he explains, and a look of shock crosses her face.

“Your- what? Lucas, you should have just said so! That’s awesome!” she exclaims, and Lucas lets out a breath of relief. “I knew we weren’t soulmates. You could have told me earlier,” she says kindly, and Lucas looks down.

“It was just difficult to process,” he replies, and Chloé unexpectedly throws her arms around his neck and hugs him. Lucas doesn’t move for a moment, but then he hugs her back.

“Well, you don’t have to go through it alone. I’m here for you, and I know your friends are too,” she says firmly as she adjusts her backpack strap. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you around, yes?” she questions, and Lucas nods.

She waves, and Lucas watches her go with a smile.

* * *

_salut, que fais-tu ce soir ?_

Eliott is surprised when he gets the DM from Lucas. They hadn’t had much of a chance to talk recently, much to their mutual frustration.

He looked at the message. His parents wanted to go to the movies, but that could wait. Therefore... he wasn’t doing anything this evening.

_Rien ;)_ he responded, and Lucas immediately replied with an address, several pizza emojis, and a question mark. Eliott recognizes the location was a pizza place by the park. _18:45??_ Lucas added.

_ouiiiii_ , Eliott types back eagerly, and Lucas sends him a smiley face. A date. This was definitely a date.

There were still two hours until their agreed time, so Eliott got off his bed to dig through his closet for a good outfit.

Usual camel jacket? No, too basic. Blazer? Too fancy. Banksy tee? Too cold for tonight. Sweater? Too hot. Polo? Actually, why does he still have that thing, it’s ugly as fuck. Black sweatshirt? Not quite. Crop top from that music festival? Waaaay too cold. Turtleneck? Too Steve Jobs-y.

Half of Eliott’s closet is on the floor 30 minutes later and he’s no closer to finding an outfit. He checks under his bed for extra shirts, but they all smell and Eliott grimaces as he throws them in the hall to wash later. He’s starting to feel a little desperate.

Finally, Eliott finds a suitable candidate. He has a nice navy blue button down covered in cartoonish stars that cuff at the elbow. He digs out a pair of black jeans and hopes Converse won’t be too stupid a choice.

At times like this, he wishes Lucille was around to help. After the somber meeting in a cafe a few days ago, the last trace of her was the message in his phone that read _thank you for being honest and telling me in person._

He could still see the way she stood up, ever the composed one, and had said goodbye to Eliott as she left the table with tears in their eyes. He wants to reach out and make sure there’s still embers of friendship that could be flames, but she needs space and now isn’t the time to dwell on that.

Eliott finally gets dressed in his chosen outfit and checks his reflection. Not too bad. He rolls the sleeves down, intending to roll them back up at dinner. He wasn’t quite ready to tell his parents he found his soulmate, but soon.

He sits down and checks the time. 18:00. Eliott bites his nails nervously. It’s a 15 minute bus ride to the pizza place, and Eliott wants to get there a tiny bit early. To be polite. He figures he’s got fifteen more minutes before he needs to leave.

Eliott sits down and puts on some [Washed Out](https://youtu.be/S-0TYeg9Rzc) as he bounces his leg, trying to calm his nerves. Eventually, the clock finally reaches 18:15, and he gets ready to head out.

He slings on a leather jacket just in case, and heads out into the kitchen.

“Wow, you look handsome,” Maman compliments, and Dad turns around from where he’s at the stove to look. His eyebrows shoot up.

“Not bad. Do you have a date tonight?” he asks, and Eliott nods, unable to keep the grin off his face.

“It’s a really special date,” he says excitedly, and Maman beams.

“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear! Have fun, and be safe!” she says. Eliott flashes them a thumbs up and heads out of the apartment.

The bus ride feels like it takes no time at all as he’s deposited at the stop and walks the last four blocks to Lazzaro’s Pizzeria. He’s grateful first for his leather jacket as the Parisian night air blows against him, and secondly for the nicer shirt as he realizes this place is a little fancier than he had thought. Nothing crazy, but still.

Eliott pauses by the window. He spots Lucas sitting in a booth already, hunched over his phone. His own buzzes, and Eliott pulls it out of his pocket to see and Instagram DM notification from Lucas.

_Hey, just got here, hope it’s ok im a little earlier lmao, lmk when ur here_

Eliott smiles at his phone then looks back up at Lucas.

_Look out the window,_ he messages back, and watches as Lucas looks up in confusion before laying eyes on him. Eliott gives him a tiny wave and soft smile fills Lucas’s face. Eliott steps inside the bustling restaurant and weaves between tables to reach Lucas’s booth before sliding into the seat across from Lucas.

Lucas looked _good_. Hair unruly, and his empty wrists proudly on display as he perched his chin on his hands in a tight black tee. His skin looked golden in the low light of the restaurant as Eliott slid off his jacket and rolled up his own sleeves. Lucas’s eyes immediately latch onto Eliott’s bare wrist before flicking up to give him a hungry look. It sends a thrill down Eliott’s spine.

“How are you?” Eliott asks politely. It was going to be a good evening.

“Wonderful, you?” Lucas shoots back.

“Hungry,” Eliott replies simply, and lets a smirk settle onto his face as they both pick up the menus.

They’re quiet as they read, and Eliott savors the moment. Their first date.

Eliott squints at Lucas over the menu to try and gauge what type of pizza he might like. He seems like one of those crazy olive-pepper-mushroom-pepperoni American pizza lovers.

Lucas’s eyes pop up over his own menu.

“What?” he asks with a smile as he slaps down his menu.

“I’m just trying to figure out what kind of pizza person you are,” Eliott replies, and Lucas rolls his eyes.

“I like it all. But- you can’t laugh at me- I am super lame and my favorite pizza is plain old extra cheesy,” he says like he’s sharing a secret, and Eliott delights in that.

“Then that’s what we’ll get,” he declares as the waiter comes over, and Lucas blushes.

“What can I get you?” he asks, and Eliott smiles.

“We would like an extra cheesy pizza with extra mozzarella, pecorino, goat cheese, Parmesan, ricotta and Gorgonzola,” Eliott says proudly. Lucas buries his face in his hands and the waiter gives Eliott a fake, strained smile.

“Thanks, we’ll be right back with your cheese,” the waiter says sarcastically, and Eliott laughs as he kicks Lucas’s legs under the table.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Lucas groans, and Eliott smiles at him.

“Anything for you,” he says, and Lucas’s blush deepens.

Lucas sets his hand on the table and shyly inches his fingers towards Eliott. Eliott picks up the cue and rests his own hand on the table so their fingers can tangle together. 

“Tell me about yourself,” Lucas says unexpectedly, and Eliott blinks.

“What do you want to know?”

Lucas ponders for a moment before speaking. “I mean, is it cheesy to say everything? What’s your favorite song, your favorite color? How do you like your coffee? Do you have pet peeves? Can you cook? Do you have a favorite childhood show?”

Eliott feels a sweet smile work it’s way up his face, and sees a matching one spread across Lucas’s.

“My favorite song is called [Once in a Lifetime](https://youtu.be/5IsSpAOD6K8). It’s not the kind of music I typically listen to, but my dad showed it to me when I was little and I’ve loved it ever since. I looked up the translation of the lyrics to French and they just stuck with me. My favorite color is blue. I drink my milk and sugar with coffee, I hate slow walkers and wet socks, and I can’t cook for shit except cakes, for some reason. And when I was little, I loved Inspector Gadget and Moomin.”

Lucas looks like he’s about five seconds from crying. “Hey, what’s wrong? Were you just kidding? I’m sorry,” he apologizes quickly, and Lucas shakes his head.

“No, no, no, I’m not upset. I just- I used to think... maybe I would never find my soulmate. Or maybe they would hate me. But you... I’m already falling in love you,” Lucas says quickly, then slaps a hand over his mouth when he realizes what he just said. Eliott smiles so widely his face hurts.

“So my seduction is working? Lucas Lallemant is falling in love with me?” Eliott teases, and Lucas is so horribly red and beautiful that Eliott aches to kiss him again. Lucas looks up at him and Eliott’s stomach twists.

“Maybe,” Lucas replies slyly, and Eliott downs a good half of the glass of water on the table.

“Well now it’s your turn to tell me your answers,” Eliott says instead of the _hey let’s go to the bathrooms and find out a bit more about each other, hm?_ that his brain helpfully supplies.

“Um, okay. I have lots of favorite songs, but I’d say [The Magnificent Seven](https://youtu.be/DoHLQTcbZCs), maybe. Not for any deep reason like you- I know I told you I love The Clash and I just think it’s a song I could listen for the rest of my life. My favorite color is also blue. I drink my coffee black, which the boys make fun of me for. My pet peeves are bad hair days, people who talk too much and too loudly, and when the internet is slow. I can sort of cook as long as I have a good recipe.” Lucas says, and smiles down at where their hands have folded into each other again. “Moomin was my favorite show when I was younger. I had a plush and everything.”

Eliott smiles at him, and they stare at each other for what feels like hours. Eliott’s heart feels like it’s pressing against his chest.

“We really are soulmates, hm?” Eliott muses, and Lucas laughs softly.

“I suppose there’s worse people I could be stuck with for life,” Lucas shrugs, and Eliott gasps in a falselyindignant way.

“Wow, I’ll have you know I bring plenty to the table,” he says, unthinkingly. Lucas’s smile turns into a wicked smirk.

“Yeah, I bet,” he replies as he pulls his lip in between his teeth, and Eliott can’t tell if that was intentional or not, but suddenly he feels like he’s about to start sweating.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he shoots back, and Lucas tilts his head to the side.

“Maybe I’ll find out later tonight?” he says, a little bit of a hopeful lilt to his voice, and Eliott can’t help be be thrilled Lucas is already suggesting certain things. An image of Lucas, pinned beneath him on his bed, comes to mind unbidden and Eliott has to turn away as he scrambles for his glass again. Thankfully, the waiter returns with their pizza, providing a needed distraction from the sudden tension in the air.

Lucas immediately grabs a slice and takes a frankly enormous bite, smearing sauce and cheese all over his face.

Eliott pulls a face and takes a much more dignified bite, thank you very much.

“This is sooo good,” Lucas mumbles around his bite, and Eliott has to swallow before he starts choking from laughter.

Lucas slows down after he finishes his first slice and they begin to talk about childhood memories. Eliott learns that Lucas met his best friend Yann in primary school and that Yann’s parents babysat him whenever they could. Eliott shares that he wanted to be a rapper when he was 14 and was obsessed with Nas, which Lucas finds hilarious.

It feels good, just sharing bits of their life with each other like this. Eliott is on his third slice and Lucas his fourth when Lucas’s phone buzzes. At first, he only gives it a sidelong glance, but something causes him to double take as he picks it up.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Lucas groans as he looks at his phone, and Eliott looks at him in worry.

“What’s wrong?” Eliott quickly asks, and Lucas grimaces.

“I have to go home. One of my roommates just got back from London,” Lucas says apologetically, and Eliott tries to keep his disappointment off his face.

“Fuck!” Lucas says, mostly to himself, as he grabs his coat. He pulls thirty euros from his pocket and offers them to Eliott as he stands up.

“You take this without argument to pay, or else I will- I will-“ he looks around for inspiration, and Eliott watches him with a humorous look. “Or else, I will come to your apartment and pour dirt in your bed,” Lucas threatens, and Eliott laughs.

“Do you seriously think that you doing things in my room is a _threat_?” Eliott says with a smirk. Lucas squints at him.

“Maybe not a threat but a _punishment_ since you think you’re so clever,” he whispers back, and then he whirls away to leave the restaurant, leaving Eliott very impressed and very turned on in his wake. Eliott closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

Eliott finishes his slice of pizza before something grey catches his eye on Lucas’s side of the booth. His scarf.

Eliott smiles as he picks it up and leaves his payment on the table.  
  


* * *

Chloé and Reneé are talking in the courtyard, Chloé in her characteristic black jacket. Lucas walks up to them tentatively, and Chloé greets him with a smile. Reneé heads off to class. 

“Hi, Lucas,” she says, and he smiles back.

“Hey, Chloé. You look pretty today,” Lucas compliments, and she blushes.

“Thank you... you’re not too bad yourself. How are things going?” she asks.

Lucas shrugs. “My soulmate and I had a date last night and it went really well. But I lost my scarf, typically,” Lucas replies with a laugh and she beams.

“That’s great,” she says genuinely, and Lucas can tell she really does mean it. He feels bad for how he acted towards her before, but things are better now.

Lucas feels a slap on his back as Yann and the boys approach, Arthur poking his head over Lucas’s shoulder.

“Salut, guys,” Yann says, and Lucas swaps fist bumps with them all. The boys even fist bump Chloé and she laughs.

“I don’t get it. You have a soulmate and _still_ girls love you,” Basile laments, and Chloé giggles.

“I think it’s the hair,” she says, and all the boys speak up in agreement.

“It hides his secrets,” Arthur agrees as he plays with a strand.

Lucas steps so that he’s facing the boys now. “That’s true. It knows all about your pathetic sex lives as well as all the money you spend on booze and weed,” he comments as he waves a finger at them all. “My hair also knows that Arthur has a crush on Yann’s mom,” he says, and Arthur sputters indignantly as everyone else breaks out in laughter. Chloé squeezes Lucas’s bicep and departs while the guys are busy laughing their asses off.

“What the fuck, dude! No I- I do not!” Arthur tries to defend, but he’s as red as a tomato.

“So that’s why you always suggest we play FIFA at my place,” Yann muses, and Arthur scowls. The boys all suddenly look over Lucas’s shoulder and he feels a warmth at his back.

“Hey,” a familiar voice greets, and Lucas turns to see Eliott beaming at him. Butterflies erupt in Lucas’s stomach and he smiles back. “You forgot this last night,” Eliott says, and hands Lucas his scarf.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Yann exclaims as he snatches it from Eliott’s hands. “Where’d you find it?” he asks, and Eliott shoots an amused smile at Lucas, who feels himself turn red.

“I had a date rudely leave it behind for me to take care of when he had to leave early without even asking,” Eliott says, and Lucas looks back up.

“Excuse me, I didn’t _mean_ to forget it, and you know why I had to go!” Lucas defends, and everyone suddenly looks between them in shock, lightbulbs going off over their heads.

“Wait, wait. A date...?” Basile trails off, before all of their jaws drop.

Lucas pats Eliott’s shoulder and faces the group. “Boys, this is... my soulmate. Meet Eliott.”

The boys all scream in unison.

“You’re Lucas’s _soulmate_!” Yann reiterates, and Eliott nods with a grin before he wraps an arm around Lucas. Lucas rolls his eyes at how dramatic they’re being.

“That I am,” Eliott confirms proudly.

Suddenly, all their phones ping and everyone checks it.

**KIFFANCE** , the notif reads. **TOP SECRET INFILTRATION PARTY**

The boys all look at each other. This is gonna be good.

* * *

_Don’t wear a stupid disguise,_ Lucas texts.

* * *

Someone knocks into Lucas’s shoulder as they’re eagerly waiting to go in, and Lucas turns around to face them. Eliott’s eyes stare sparkling and mischievous at him over a black face mask, and Lucas pouts.

“What the hell is this? I told you no stupid disguises! This is just a mask!” he exclaims, and Eliott laughs.

“No, you can’t be judging! What the fuck are _you_ doing? You aren’t even disguised, you just slapped some little stripes on your face,” Eliott shoots back, and Lucas scowls.

“It’s called minimalism,” he says proudly, gesturing to the much more colorful costumes of the gang. Lucas rolls his eyes and grabs his stupid soulmate’s hand anyways as they turn back to listen to Daphné.

“So, everyone, we’re doing an underground party at school,” Daphné says in a conspiratorial tone, and the crowd cheers. “Yeah, yeah, but discretion is key! So we’re excited, but like...” She raises a finger to her lips. Everyone cheers much more quietly.

“The plan is to party in the common room. Everything is ready. No one gets in without the password,” she adds.

“But question about the password, what do we do about it, Daphné? Because it sucks,” Arthur pipes up, and the boys snicker. Imane leans over to mutter something to Daphy.

“You give the password to Imane, otherwise you don’t get in, she has orders.”

“No one gives me orders,” Imane corrects her, and Daphné blushes.

“Ok, she has suggestions. Now, everyone be quiet until we get in, and if there are any wimps, go home because we don’t want you here, thanks. Alexia? Gate,” Daphy says with a quirk in her voice.

“No kidding about Daphné being intense sometimes,” Eliott whispers in Lucas’s ear, and he elbows him to try and avoid cracking up.

Alexia starts to climb up a ladder she has propped against the school gate and salutes when she reaches the top. The excitement in the air is palpable, and everyone is itching to get in.

“Masks and hoods, everyone,” Daphné says seriously, and Lucas flips up his sweatshirt. He doesn’t have to look at Eliott to know he must be playfully judging his lack of effort for a costume. Yann does a fake scowl in his weird army camo getup, and Basile pokes out his tongue in return as he snaps his Mutant Ninja Turtles mask over his eyes.

Alexia heads to find the unlocking mechanism, and Daphné leans towards the crowd. “Ready for the infiltration?” she demands in an excited whisper, and the crowd offers another wave of hissed cheers.

“I want to infiltrate _you!_ ” Basile shrieks, and the boys smack him.

“Kiffance!” Daphné declares lowly, and everyone starts to chant, getting faster and louder at each repetition.

“Ki-ffance, ki-ffance, ki-ffance, ki-ffance, ki-ffance, KI-FFANCE KI-FFANCE!” they all shout, and then a huge roar rises up when the gates swing open and they rush in. Lucas starts running, shooting an overjoyed look over his shoulder at Eliott who’s clinging to his hand as they go, and then they reach the foyer and lights and music explode everywhere.

Lucas has never seen a party go into full swing so fast in his life, and he loves it.

He and Eliott start bouncing around to the first song, adrenaline pumping into their veins as their hands swing wildly and they smile at each other without abandon. Then Arthur steps up to pull Lucas into a dorky dance circle and they sway and move around each other, while Basile jumps onto Eliott’s back and they spin around. Yann shows up with beers for all of them, and Lucas lets himself go.

He can’t remember the last time he had this much fun, and certainly not the last time his life felt this complete, watching Eliott blend with his closest friends as they dance for song after song without stopping.

Eventually Basile stumbles away to take a break, and Yann disappears into the masses when Mika appears and sweeps him away with a smirk.

“Take this!” some girl dressed in neon-splattered overalls says to Arthur as she hands him a huge glowing tube, and he accepts in surprise as Lucas and Eliott cheer. All three of them grab a hold of it and start dancing in a bizarre circle before Arthur starts to use it as a weird baton.

The song changes into a popular nightclub song, and the party screams its approval. Smoke from all the blunts start to fog up the air as Eliott, Lucas, and Arthur all step into a tight circle and start dancing more loosely. Arthur is totally in his element, limbs flopping around carelessly, and Eliott’s head is tilted back, eyes closed and moving in a consistent side-to-side away. Lucas’s eyes trail down from Eliott’s lips to his waist hungrily.

Eliott cracks an eye open to stare at Lucas, and Lucas meets his stare head on, before crowding into his space. Eliott’s hands rest on Lucas’s waist, and Lucas reaches up to pull the face mask down Eliott’s chin.

“Something you’re looking for that my mask had hidden?” Eliott asks cheekily, and Lucas grins.

“Something very important,” Lucas mumbles before he’s standing on his tip toes and slotting their mouths together. Kissing Eliott feels like the simplest thing in the world as he tangles his fingers in Eliott’s messy hair and pulls him down so Lucas isn’t stretching so far. Eliott’s tongue swipes across Lucas’s lips playfully before Lucas’s mouth falls open against him and they sway, arms wrapped around each other and kissing the whole time.

Lucas pulls back and rests their foreheads together as Eliott’s hands settle on his hips. Lucas wiggles his eyebrows as their fronts push flush against each other as they dance, laughing and kissing for one song after another. 

“Hi Lucas!” Chloé says as she pops up beside them, and Lucas grins at her as Eliott ducks down to kiss his neck.

“Heeeeey, Chloé,” he says back, and Chloé covers up a giggle with her hand as Eliott’s head pops back up from his ministrations.

“Salut!” he adds cheerfully.

“Do you want to get some drinks?” she offers, and Lucas nods as he detaches himself from Eliott.

“Be right back,” he murmurs as he fists the front of Eliott’s shirt and pulls him into one more kiss before Chloé grabs his hand and leads him to the bar. Lucas spots Yann and Mika dancing ridiculously with Lisa, who is wearing a... shower curtain, and then some other guy slides in to dance with them and Mika kisses him square on the mouth while Yann and Lisa holler in encouragement.

“Isn’t that your flatmate?” Chloé laughs as she hands a beer to Lucas, and Lucas nods with a proud grin as they clink their bottles and down a sip.

“He looks like fun,” she says with a smile, and Alexia leans over from besides them with a grin.

“There’s a reason Mika throws the parties and Lucas doesn’t. Manon says Lucas is the lame flatmate,” Alexia interjects, and Lucas points his beer at her.

“That’s bullshit! Besides, Manon has hardly been back a week, how would she know what I’m like. And _she’s_ the one who made me have to cut a date short,” Lucas defends, and Imane approaches, slinging an arm around Alexia’s waist.

“Whatever you’re arguing about, I’ll assume Alexia is correct,” she says smoothly, and all three girls laugh as Imane takes Alexia back onto the dance floor.

Lucas scans the crowd and spots Eliott jumping around with Arthur and Daphné, mouthing the words to the song as they all let loose.

“I’ve never really been to a party like this,” Chloé comments from beside him, and Lucas nods, only half listening. “Like, I’ve been to house parties, and night clubs, you know, that kind of thing...”

Eliott turns his head just slightly and locks eyes with Lucas across the room as his little group slows into a more subdued swaying motion.

“...which is a great club, by the way...”

The strobe starts to flash and the partiers cheer, Eliott and Lucas not tearing their eyes from each other for a moment as Lucas tilts his head back to drink a mouthful of beer. Eliott’s expression is dark and promising, and Lucas is sure he probably looks much the same. It’s suddenly too much, standing here in this packed room of people, and _not_ having his hands on Eliott. Eliott jerks his chin as if to say _come here_ , and Lucas sets his unfinished beer down on the table.

“Sorry, I have to go,” Lucas apologizes vaguely to Chloé, and she blinks in confusion but gives him a little wave. Lucas starts to elbow through the crowd to reach him, when suddenly the lights turn on and the music cuts out.

“Code red, I repeat, code red! The night guard is here! Run! Everyone for themselves!” Daphné screams, and suddenly everyone is running for the doors.

It’s a mad dash out of the school as all hundred plus students spill out into the night and sprint away from the bobbing flashlight of the night guard.Lucas runs as fast as he can past the gates and stops in the middle of the street, searching frantically for the boys and Eliott. They’re nowhere to be found, and Lucas is just about to start panicking when a hand grabs his wrist and yanks him into a hidden alcove.

Lucas’s back hits the wall and he turns to see Eliott smiling down at him, breathing hard.

“Fuck! That was close!” Lucas laughs between breaths, and Eliott nods. He wraps his arms around Eliott’s shoulders and they stumbles backwards goofily, Eliott’s laughter loud in his ears as they just look at each other.

They hear footsteps approaching, and Lucas’s eyes go wide as he recognizes the night guard. He grabs Eliott’s hand and they start running again, down the street past the school and the video club, beyond the corner store and electronics shop until they round a corner and stop to catch their breath under a streetlight, still laughing. A few passer-by give them odd looks, but they don’t care.

“Want me to walk you home?” Eliott offers, and Lucas eagerly accepts.

They find themselves walking beside the Seine for a ways, holding hands and swinging their arms thoughtlessly. Neither of them speak, simply content to be in each other’s company.

They finally reach the building Lucas lives in and they stop across the street. Lucas looks up at Eliott, the yellow streetlight illuminating his face. They stare at each other for a long moment.

“Thank you for walking me home,” Lucas says, and Eliott takes another step closer, making Lucas tilt his head back even further.

“So, this is goodnight?” Eliott asks, and Lucas doesn’t respond at first. He puts his arms around Eliott’s neck again, and lets himself get bent almost backwards as Eliott kisses him again on the sidewalk, sweet and deep.

“My roommates are asleep,” Lucas says softly when they break apart, and an excited look flashes across Eliott’s eyes.

“So... not goodnight,” Eliott decides, and Lucas shakes his head.

“Not yet,” Lucas promises.

_Not ever,_ he thinks.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pizza date night was my favorite scene in this fic to write!! I love them and I know Eliott probably does order stupid shit when they go out to eat just to fuck with Lucas.


End file.
